Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words from the Sacred Scriptures, telling us all about what we should be doing as the people of God, as Christians who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, God Who has revealed Himself and His love for each and every one of us. And we are called to be faithful just as our predecessors have been faithful, in this manner, as we heard about the examples of Abraham, our father in faith.

We must have faith in God, and place our complete trust in Him. As Abraham, our father in faith, had been faithful to the Lord, so must we, as his children in faith, be faithful to God. And perhaps, it is good for us to explore what happened at the time of Abraham, when he answered God’s call and followed Him. Abraham was a very rich man who hailed from the region now located in the present day Iraq, at the site where very ancient civilisation existed, the ancient city of Ur.

At that time, Abraham was truly blessed with everything a man would ever need, from wealth to worldly possessions, having many cattle and servants, truly a rich and respected man, who was married to his wife Sarai. He was indeed blessed in everything, except for one thing, that his marriage to Sarai was not blessed with the presence of a child, or a son, born from him.

Nonetheless, he still lacked nothing, and had nothing to worry about in life. Yet, when the Lord God called Abraham, he willingly listened to the Lord and followed Him, leaving behind many of his worldly assurances and comforts, and travelled from his ancestral land of Ur to the land of Canaan, which God promised that it would be his own, and that He would grant him a son as well.

Abraham took that very important step of faith, entrusting everything to God. He was willing to let go of all the privileges and comfort he had in life, and travelling into the unknown, trusting that God had a plan for him, and that He would take care of him. Abraham trusted the Lord, and set off on the journey to Canaan, and from time to time again, he showed his faith in God.

When the Lord tested Abraham, by asking him to sacrifice his own son, Isaac, the promised son whom God had granted to Abraham, even though he certainly had some queries and uncertainties in his heart and mind, but he did not let those to dissuade him from being faithful and obedient to God, his Lord and Master. He listened to the Lord, obeyed Him, even to the point of being willing to give his only beloved son to God. God saw Abraham’s faith and blessed him.

As we can see in this example, Abraham was faithful to God, not just in words but also in deeds. He devoted himself to God in his works and in all the actions we can read in the Book of Genesis, Abraham showed us all how to be truly faithful to God in all things we say and do. He had shown us the example to be followed, and we should do well to follow in his footsteps.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be truly faithful as Abraham had been faithful. It is often that we are unable to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to God because of the many temptations we encounter in our lives. We often find ourselves unable to let go of all the good things we have in this life, be it money, possessions, worldly fame, personal glory and other things that distract us from the Lord.

And the tendency is for us to desire ever more and more of these things. Even after we have received all the wealth, power, prestige and others, we cannot be satisfied and want more. As a result, these things become obstacles in our path to devote ourselves to the Lord. Are we able to let go of these and put our complete trust in the Lord as Abraham, our father in faith had done?

Let us all spend some time to reflect on our lives and how we have lived them thus far. Let us be thoroughly committed in all things, and focus our attention from now on to serve the Lord and to glorify Him, no longer distracted by our worldly desires and the temptations of this world, but be truly faithful and have a living faith inside each and every one of us, as Abraham had been. May the Lord be with us always. Amen.